Arkansas Tech head football coach and athletic director Steve Mullins announced his team's 2011 season schedule Monday.

The Wonder Boys will host five games at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field. The home games will include contests against former Gulf South Conference rival Delta State, GSC East powers West Alabama and North Alabama, along with new GAC Conference foes Southeastern Oklahoma for homecoming and East Central for senior day.

"It is always tough to schedule football games, but this year we were able to schedule several games against GSC schools to help out our other sports as we move into our new conference," Mullins said. "It was also important that we were able to get five home games in front of our fans in Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field."

Notably missing from the Wonder Boys' schedule are in-state rivals Henderson State, Ouachita Baptist and Harding. This will be the first year since 1994 that Tech hasn't faced the Reddies on the football field, and the first time since 1999 that the Bison aren't on the schedule.

The Wonder Boys open the season with a conference game at Arkansas-Monticello on Sept. 3, before stepping out of conference for a road game against Southwest Baptist and home games against Delta State and West Alabama.

"We're not used to opening the season with two consecutive road contests, so that will provide us with some different and unique challenges this season," said Mullins, who is entering his 15th season at the helm of the Wonder Boys this coming fall.

Tech then travels to Central Missouri and hosts North Alabama to close out the non-conference schedule.

"I'm glad we were able to find a game to replace Lambuth on our schedule," Mullins said. "UCM is an excellent team with a strong history and it will be a good challenge for our team."

The Wonder Boys reopen conference play at Southern Arkansas before a two-game home stand against Southeastern Oklahoma and East Central, before closing out the season at Southwestern Oklahoma.